Protecting Robert Mueller against Mitch McConnell

In an interview with USA TODAY, James Comey warned that should the president fire special counsel Robert Mueller, it would be "an attack on the rule of law that we have not seen in our lifetime."
USA TODAY

A harsh study in principle vs. pragmatism is shaping up among Republicans in the Senate. Hanging in the balance is whether a president is above the law.

On one side, espousing principle, is Thom Tillis, a junior senator from North Carolina, who stepped from Republican ranks to fashion legislation aimed at preventing President Trump from firing special counsel Robert Mueller.

On the other is pragmatic Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who vows to block a measure he says is not necessary. "I'm the one who decides," he told Fox News this week, "and we will not be having this on the floor of the Senate."

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and President Donald Trump(Photo: Tillis's office and The Associated Press)

The bipartisan legislation proposed by Tillis along with co-sponsors Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Chris Coons, D-Del., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., would allow 10 days for a special counsel to seek expedited judicial review to fight an unjustified removal by a president.

Both McConnell and Tillis agree with the majority of Americans and, indeed, of Republicans, that Trump should allow Mueller to complete his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Moscow colluded with the Trump presidential campaign.

But McConnell, whose wife, Elaine Chao, serves in Trump's Cabinet as Transportation secretary, clings to the belief that Trump will never fire the prosecutor. Does the Kentucky senator have some personal assurance from the impulsive president that can be trusted? Who knows?

Evidence to the contrary is mounting with Trump's relentless Twitter campaign to discredit Mueller and the Justice Department, the smear tactics of the president's allies in Congress and the news media, and reports that Trump has already talked — twice — to aides about firing the special counsel.

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Mueller leaves after briefing members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election on Capitol Hill on June 21, 2017. Michael Reynolds, European Pressphoto Agency

Mueller arrives for a court hearing at the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco on April 21, 2016. He had been overseeing settlement talks with Volkswagen, the U.S. government and private lawyers for the automaker to buy back some of the nearly 600,000 diesel cars that cheat on emissions tests. Jeff Chiu, AP

By contrast, Tillis, despite a record as a loyal supporter of Trump's agenda, simply believes that no president should be able to place himself above the law.

“The same people who would criticize me for filing this bill would be absolutely angry if I wasn’t pounding the table for this bill if we were dealing with Hillary Clinton,” he told Politico. “So spare me your righteous indignation.”

The proposed legislation comes before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week and could well pass, though it would face a likely presidential veto if it were to clear Congress. Tillis said it will be his job to persuade McConnell to allow a vote on the Senate floor.

Both men have constituencies to worry about. McConnell is seeking to hold a narrow Republican majority in the Senate through midterm elections. Offending Trump voters doesn't help that calculus.

Tillis, who runs for re-election in 2020 in a state carried by Trump, certainly risks political backlash. But he's willing to set a standard other members of his party should emulate. "Courage," he told Politico, "is when you know you're going to do something that's going to anger your base."

Next week, we'll see how much courage is left in the Senate, along with common sense. The time to put on a seat belt is before a vehicle crashes, not afterward.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff.